Warwick Jv District's Best

The Warwick junior varsity basketball team didn't have the best shooters in the Peninsula District.

It didn't have the best talent in the league.

It didn't have the tallest players ... oh, boy, didn't it have the tallest players.

What it did have, though, was the best record in the district, 14-2.

Colin Emerson, in his first year directing the JV, molded his "shrimps" into a cohesive unit.

Emerson proudly states his team's philosophy: "There is no `I' in team."

Mario Haskett played four games with the JV before moving to the varsity, but brother Melvin had a big part in the winning. The 5-foot-8 sophomore played small forward and averaged a team high 22.3 points.

Lawrence Haskins, at 5-11, was the Baby Raiders' power forward, and he averaged 16.4 points.

"Haskins moves without the ball," Emerson says. "He should make an immediate contribution (next year with the varsity). I'm gonna have about seven people move up. The varsity will be good next year."

Anthony Watson and Larry Evans split time at the guard spots. Watson, who Emerson feels may be the football team's starting quarterback this fall, led the fast break and averaged 14.8 points.

Evans (at 6-foot he's three inches taller than Watson) averaged 12.5 points. But more important were his 7.4 assists a game.

"He was our main defensive player," Emerson says. "He could have scored more, but he gave up easy baskets to other people."

The tallest player on the team was starting Gideon Mooring. Like the other four, he was a sophomore, too. However, the 6-1 center had never played before this season. Still, he averaged 8.1 rebounds and 8.3 points.

Though Warwick won its first 12 JV games, Emerson maintains it took much of that time for his players to get used to him.

A coach and teacher in Connecticut, Emerson found a different style of ball in Virginia.

"There was a lot of adjustment," he explains. "It took a long time for them to get used to me and me to get used to them. It's totally different (here). Very uptempo. It's like 1-2 passes and a shot.

"Where I came from, we were more like the old Celtics. You pass the ball around more ... a slower tempo. I was from a town of 5,000 (Moodus, Conn.). There were more cows than people.

"It wasn't until the last few games that we did get used to each other.

"I believe you have to change your style to the players you have," he says. "So what I did was adapt. The only thing I did was slow down a little. I had them make four passes, unless you have an easy layup.

"Also, I had to teach them what a good shot was. They thought if three people were on them, that was a good shot."